Armed bystander stops stabbing outside school

Police say a bystander who happened to be a concealed handgun license holder pulled his weapon and ordered Barron to drop the knife. Barron surrendered and was taken into custody by the bystander and a school district officer.

Yet another example of a CCW holder making our cities safer for everyone.

2. I'm aware of such tragedies

So is Ohio which allows an immediate issue of an emergency CCW permit to be granted to someone like that, without any training requirements, so they can defend themselves. Still doesn't justify infringing the rights of Americans.

9. Your position

Assumes that there are no legitimate reasons to use deadly force against a human being. That's not what the 2nd Amendment is about though, self-defense is an inherent human right. The 2nd Amendment is about keeping an armed populace to preserve a free society. The use of firearms for self-defense stems from our ability to own them.

21. The criminal element in our nation will agree with your viewpoint. ...

Obviously when honest citizens own and sometimes carry firearms in a criminal's workplace, it present a significant hazard to their activities.

I'm positive that a criminal would agree that none of his victims have any right to use a weapon for self defense when he attacked them with the intention of putting them in a hospital for an extended star or six feet under. Also a rapist would appreciate never having to worry about a female victim using a firearm to effectively deter his attack. Of course many criminals and rapists often use lethal weapons or rely on superior physical force to accomplish their goal.

Does a honest person have a right to defend himself/herself from a violent attack? If you disagree why not?

You state:

I'll always challenge the assertion that any such "right" exists.

Can BE no such thing as a "right" to the means of convenient murder.

I would point out that a person can legally KILL another person while using legitimate self defense and that is in no way MURDER. There is an enormous difference. Killing another person in self defense is legal. Murder is not. You don't murder in self defense!

24. That pretend "right" you claim is making us all a lot less free.

25. Many feel the same way about the 1,4,5,6th etc amendments

Guess we should just start shredding the constitution since it's an aberrant indulgence.

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

26. Dressing up the 2nd as something that it's not, jeapordizes all the others.

27. The intent is clear

and reaffirmed by the founder's words and the Supreme Court's rulings. You're the one trying to make it into something it's not. Also, the 2nd is what guarantees we will always have at least a fighting chance to preserve the others.

28. I can read just fine, thanks. And I have no vested interest in twisting it.

29. How does forbidding me the right to own firearms make me more free? ....

It may well take away my ability to defend myself from a violent attack and I might consequently end up in the hospital with serious injuries that will be difficult to recover from or I might end up six feet under. It's hard to enjoy freedom when you are suffering from serious injuries and freedom has little meaning to the dead.

It is true that firearms sometimes are misused and cause tragedies. However they are often used for self defense. The lowest estimate that I can find for defensive gun uses (DGUs) is 108,000 times a year and the highest 2.5 million. The actual figure probably lies somewhere in between.

You are only looking at the negative effects of allowing civilian gun ownership and totally ignoring the fact that they often save lives.

It's simplistic to view most topics as totally good or bad. Firearm ownership fits into that category as while it has disadvantages that are indeed extremely bad, it also enables a person to effective defend himself/herself from attack.

It is my opinion that if your were to be able to place both the good and bad that the civilian ownership of firearms causes in our nation on a scale, you would find that the good outweighs the bad. While this is entirely anecdotal I personally know of at least five instances where a firearm owned by a family member, a friend or a co-worker was used to stop a violent attack. I also know of one instance in which a family member used a firearm to commit suicide.

Sometimes it is wise to consider the broad issue not merely the positive or negative aspects.

Do you totally disagree that firearms are sometimes used for self defense?

31. To me, allowing honest citizens who have had training and passed a backgound check ...

to legally carry a firearm makes far more sense than only allowing the rich, the famous and the well connected to be the only people that are allowed to do so. I hate discrimination.

That is no way means that I want everyone to get a carry license. Guns are NOT for everybody and you have to realize that if you have anger management problems, suffer from severe mental health issues, abuse substances such as alcohol or live in a volatile relationship with a significant other -- then it would be wise to not own a firearm. Also you have to realize that owning or carrying a firearm requires a great deal of responsibility.

When someone who has never been around firearms asks me if they should buy one for self defense, I try to discourage them by using the points I made in the paragraph above. I often ask them if they could actually kill someone if it was absolutely necessary. Many people could never do such a thing and I don't consider that be a a character fault.

16. Great. Thanks for the link.

20. No problem

Like I said, I could spam stories day and night if I wanted to. People think guns are only used in mass shootings because these incidents don't get reported on a national level. Every day guns save countless lives, but since that doesn't draw as much ratings or satisify their agenda they go largely unreported.